Innovation is not blasphemy

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 00:00

Emmy Abdul Alim

“Innovation is not blasphemous,” said CIMB Islamic’s CEO Badlisyah Abdul Ghani to reporters in Kuala Lumpur last week.

He later clarified to The Islamic Globe that he wanted to highlight the point that product modifications can be made to fulfill the needs of customers as long as all of the structures meet Shari’ah principles.

Citing those who criticize the “Islamizing” of conventional products Ghani argued that it was the Prophet Muhammad who “Islamized Mudarabah”, which as a principle existed before the adoption of Islam as did the principle of Waqf, which he said was in use by the ancient Greeks.

He argued that the only real ‘Muslim innovation’, was Murabahah. He said: “We created it and we then criticize ourselves for it. How ironic.”